A Weird Day

Things were just ... strange, today.

Of course the morning began (pre-dawn, here) with the story about the Navy Yard shootings. What's up with security on military bases these days? That stuff never happened back in my day, you young whippersnappers! Srsly, my heart breaks for the families of the victims.

There was a request from my boss to analyze & respond to a complex financial proposal at 7 a.m. There was barely enough blood in my caffeine system to process that info at that hour.

There was the slightly puckered moment when we found an unaccompanied duffel on top of a vending machine, this morning. There were some anxious minutes as we tried to figure out what to do about it.

There were a few other things which I won't go into, but which left me shaking my head & wondering exactly what some folks were thinking.

You know those moments when you think you're pretty good at your job ... and then something comes along and leaves you pondering whether you know anything at all?

Yeah. A whole day of that stuff, today.

... sigh ...

Tougher in Sleetmute

Pilot, 64, hurt in rural crash, boards flight to Anchorage for treatment

Alaska State Troopers say 64-year-old Henry Hill at about 11 a.m. Thursday was conducting a maintenance test flight of a Cessna 206.

The airplane crashed just south of the Sleetmute Airport runway in a heavily wooded area.

Troopers say the airplane was demolished.

Hill hiked to Sleetmute and took a commercial flight to Anchorage. He was treated and released for chest pains and a bloody nose at a hospital.

• 64 years old. 
• Demolished the plane. 
• Walked away.
• Hiked into town.
• Took a commercial flight 264 miles to get medical attention.

Tough enough for you?

It's My Birthday (Part 2 - UPDATED)

and what a day it's been.

Broken water line feeding an injection system for one of the boilers, since sometime yesterday evening ... it shut down the steam supply, flooded the boiler room, and fried the controller circuit on a VFD exhaust fan.

Water is patient, and always seeks the lowest point ... so the flood on the fourth floor penthouse sought cracks & seeped into the third floor ceiling. Wet ceiling tiles, water spots on the carpet, leaks into both hallways & occupied spaces.

Electricians are trying to excavate the wires feeding the parking lot lights: said wires have a habit of snapping in two as the 37 feet of peat on which our lot is constructed has a habit of rising & falling as moisture levels vary, seasonally. The main break, this time 'round (it's happened twice before) is still encased in ice, about 10 inches down. The good news is, it's already light at 5 a.m., so the lights aren't needed now.

It's raining this afternoon, which we need badly, so that's not a complaint.  The four-way intersection nearest my home, however, is under construction, and the D.O.T. workers have the streets down to one lane on each side.

So the east/west and north/south drivers get to take turns. Yay.

Days like this remind me why I used to drink (and yes, that's a joke). I'm glad I'm home.

UPDATE: The day takes a huge turn for the better.  My daughters announced they're taking me to see Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, and Green Lantern. 

The concept: they'll buy me a ticket if I drive them to the movies they want to see anyway.

What the heck - I want to see those, too, and this way I get to spend time with both girls. Win-win!